GROWING UP ME -

Thursday, December 31, 2009

8:07 PM

Tammy

This is the Barbie-inspired "Tammy" doll. I had one of these and loved it just as much as I loved my Barbies.

Tammy movies were amongst my favorite when I was a kid. They weren't specifically geared toward kids but they were funny and family-friendly enough that most kids enjoyed them. My favorite of the series was "Tammy and the Doctor". Now that I'm older, I don't think Peter Fonda was/is very handsome at all, but through my little girl eyes, he looked as dreamy as he could possibly be. I loved Tammy because she was always the underdog who proved to have a special heart of gold at the end of every storyline.

The main reason, however, why I loved "Tammy and the Doctor" so much was that there was a gorgeous song included near the end of the movie called "Tammy's In Love". I adored that song the minute I heard it and I never, ever forgot it though it was probably another 15 or 20 years before I ever saw the movie again. The song stuck with me so much that I would sing parts of it to myself from time to time over the years. And being the hopeless romantic that I was even then, I would often substitute my name in place of Tammy's and pretend that the song was written for and about me. LOL

"Te***, Te***, Te***'s in love." LOL

I saw Tammy and the Doctor one Sunday night during my 1st grade year while lying on our living room couch trying to recuperate from a miserable stomach virus. I had spent Saturday and Saturday night with relatives while my parents had gone out of town for reasons I cannot recall. Most likely it was the stress of being left with sitters, which I hated with a passion, that caused me to get so ill. Whatever the cause, I threw my guts up all day Saturday and part of Sunday. By the time my parents picked Bernie and me up and took us home, I had stopped vomiting but I still felt weak and blechy. Though I eventually fell in LOVE with school sometime during the second semester of my 1st grade year, I, by contrary, HATED it during the first semester. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I was against anything that separated me from my mom. It just so happens the my sitter-related stomach virus happened during the first semester of that school year so as that particular Sunday night began to draw to a close, I remember realizing that my stomach virus had a silver lining in that I had a legitimate reason to stay home from school the next day. I can't say I was happy about the fact that I had to pay for that extra day home with several hours of vomiting but with the worst of it behind me by the time Sunday night rolled around, I remember feeling a whole new appreciation for the battle I had just weathered. LOL I did get to stay home the next day, by which time I was feeling much better so I happily and gratefully enjoyed a wonderful Mommy and me day of getting back to solid foods, strawberry pop, and playing with my toys.

(1st Grade me)